


Fight Me

by Chrystie, exuberant_imperfection, kate882, luckypen



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Fluff, M/M, nurse!Aomine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-13
Updated: 2016-01-13
Packaged: 2018-05-13 18:05:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5711950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chrystie/pseuds/Chrystie, https://archiveofourown.org/users/exuberant_imperfection/pseuds/exuberant_imperfection, https://archiveofourown.org/users/kate882/pseuds/kate882, https://archiveofourown.org/users/luckypen/pseuds/luckypen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kuroko peeked out of his blanket and pillow mess when he heard someone enter the hospital room. “Fight me,” he said when he saw the guy looking at his nest of warmth oddly. He may have been a little high off the drugs from the hospital.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fight Me

**Author's Note:**

> For the tumblr post: http://officialcadbane.tumblr.com/post/121299145514/ohsebs-ohsebs-ohsebs-my-nurse-just-came-in

 

Aomine sighed and checked his list, more than ready to perform his last checkup of his very long shift so he could go home, eat his entire kitchen, and pass out. He walked into the patient’s room to do a quick check up only to find a small mountain of blankets and pillows in place of where the patient was supposed to be. 

Kuroko peeked out of his blanket and pillow mess when he heard someone enter the hospital room. “Fight me,” he said when he saw the guy looking at his nest of warmth oddly. He may have been a little high off the drugs from the hospital. 

To say that Aomine was slightly surprised would have been an understatement.  _ Was this patient okay? _ “Are you in the right condition to fight?” he responded as he went to check Kuroko’s charts and updates by the bed.  _ Ahhh _ , he’d been given medication earlier--that would explain his behaviour.

“I am. Why? Are you scared to fight me?” Kuroko replied, watching the nurse move around the room. 

“Only scared of how disappointed you’ll be when you lose.” Aomine playfully smiled at the patient, trying to not let his exhaustion show. At least Kuroko was entertaining.

Kuroko looked mildly offended by this, but the offense was kind of ruined by him yawning. The medicine was starting to make him feel tired. “No way. I’m going to win. You’ll see.” Kuroko told him, making a loose fist with the hand that he managed to unearth from his pillow fort. 

“We can find out tomorrow. You should be getting to sleep.” Aomine tugged at one of the pillows on the fort, trying to take it apart. 

“Noooo.” Kuroko whined when the mountain of pillows collapsed. “You killed it,” he whispered sadly, hair sticking up everywhere, and a pout firmly in place as he looked at the pillows lying around him instead of on top of him. 

“You can put it back together tomorrow. For now you should sleep.” Aomine arranged the pillows and blankets back to how they were originally as best he could and started to check on Kuroko’s condition. “How are you feeling?”

“Like you took apart my fort for no reason,” Kuroko muttered, shooting a half hearted glare at the nurse. 

Aomine had to admit, Kuroko was acting pretty cute in his drugged out state. “If you want, I can help you build it again tomorrow. For now, tell me how you’re feeling with your health.” Aomine gently lowered Kuroko down onto his now fixed bed, tucking him in as he did so.

Kuroko brightened at the promise of help rebuilding the next day, smiling at Aomine before answering his question. “I feel fine. Breathing is a little weird, but still fine,” he answered. 

“Are you coughing as much?” Aomine asked while writing his observations down on Kuroko’s chart.

“I’m able to talk to you, so I’d say no.” Kuroko decided after taking a moment to think about it. 

Aomine absentmindedly nodded, “You said your limbs were sore earlier, are they still now?”

“No. Whatever you guys gave me made them feel kind of floaty,” Kuroko replied. 

Aomine suppressed a chuckle. That was an interesting way to put it. He wrote the final note down onto the chart and put it back where it was at the end of Kuroko’s bed. “Okay, you should try and sleep off the… floatiness.” He quickly checked Kuroko’s IV bag, deeming it sufficient for the night and turned to switch the lights off. “Goodnight,” he whispered softly.

“Goodnight,” Kuroko mumbled back, eyes drifting shut. “I’m gonna win our fight tomorrow,” he added quietly. 

“Whatever you say,” Aomine laughed, closing the door softly as he left. On his way to the room where he kept his bags, Aomine noted that he didn’t feel as tired anymore.

* * *

 

Despite the fact that he was coughing so much that he could barely breathe, as soon as Kuroko saw the nurse from before, his first words were not for help but “Fight me”, and he felt kind of dumb for it, but he was too busy trying to suck air into his lungs to really think about that. 

“How about after you take your meds?” Aomine arched a brow at Kuroko’s persistence. It was kind of endearing. He pulled out a bottle of pills, placing a few on Kuroko’s food tray with a glass of water.

Kuroko waited until the coughing had subsided enough that he thought he would be able to actually take the medicine before he did that, somehow managing not to choke like he thought he would, and then looked at Aomine expectantly. 

“How exactly did you want me to fight you?” The only thing that came to his mind was a pillow fight, which concerned him. Flying pillows around IV lines did  _ not _ sound good.

Kuroko looked confused by the question. “How many different types of fights are there?” he asked. 

“Many,” Aomine answered simply, “A lot of which, I can’t do against a patient,” he added as an afterthought. 

“Why not?” Kuroko complained, holding up a badly made fist with a pout. 

“‘Cause you’re sick and I could get fired.” Aomine playfully bumped his own fist against Kuroko’s, despite his words.

“But I was going to win,” Kuroko argued, looking at his fist with surprise.

“Only because I would’ve let you.” Aomine ruffled Kuroko’s hair. It was pretty soft even with the really bad hospital shampoo he knew Kuroko had been using.

“Lies. I’m a good fighter. Ask anyone,” Kuroko declared, ducking his head when Aomine ruffled his hair, doing his best to reach up and fix it without knocking his IV. 

“Well then you’re going to have to prove it after you’re out of the hospital, because I can’t fight you while you’re here.” Aomine removed his hand and grabbed at one of the pillows laying around Kuroko’s bed. “I can help you build a pillow fort though.”

Kuroko smiled brightly, forgetting about trying to fix his hair. “Right! You broke mine yesterday, didn’t you? You’ve got to help me put it back together,” he said as he set to work on a base for the fort around himself. 

Aomine laughed as he stacked pillow after pillow on top of each other, playfully placing one on top of Kuroko’s head. “I think it’s done,” he joked, backing away to give Kuroko and the fort a mock appraising look.

Kuroko blinked a few times before shaking his head to get the pillow off. “Did you put that there?” he asked, looking at the pillow consideringly before adding it to the stack around him. 

“I don’t know. It might’ve just somehow found its way up there,” Aomine teased. “I mean I did find you completely buried in them yesterday.”

“That took a lot of work.” Kuroko vaguely remembered attempting to make a pillow fort the day before. 

“I’m sure it did. You should’ve made it earlier in the day. It would’ve stayed up longer if you had.” Aomine briefly wondered where Kuroko had gotten all the pillows in the first place. All patients were only given one unless they requested for more and even when they did they were only allowed an additional two or three.

“It would have stayed up longer if you were a nicer person who didn’t destroy people’s pillow forts,” Kuroko argued. 

“I  _ had _ to destroy it. It was your bedtime.” Aomine helped him stack a few more pillows, bunching the blankets up to add to the fort.

“I was going to sleep in it.” Kuroko informed him. 

“Well then you can keep this one for tonight and tell me how your back feels tomorrow morning.” Aomine took the last blanket and flicked it out, covering both Kuroko and the fort. “I think the fort looks great,” he joked.

“I can’t see,” Kuroko complained, poking at the blanket experimentally to try and figure out how to move it without it taking apart the fort. 

Aomine watched with an amused grin at the little shifts and pokes that came from under the blanket. “If you can’t see anyone, then no one can see you. It’s a win-win.”

“But what if someone like you tries to take apart my fort? I won’t see them coming to fight them off,” Kuroko argued. 

“Well the first thing they’re going to do is take this blanket off. I’m sure you’ll be prepared enough to scare them with that.” Aomine blindly patted where he thought Kuroko’s head was.

Kuroko reached up and poked Aomine’s hand through the blanket instead of replying. 

Aomine managed to grab Kuroko’s finger through the blanket, holding onto it. “Hmm, what’s this?” His tone was teasing and light, “I wonder if I should keep it.”

“It’s mine! You can’t have it!” Kuroko protested, trying to tug his finger free. 

“But I kind of like it, maybe I’ll try to find more to keep.” He held onto the rest of Kuroko’s hand as best he could, “These seem nice.”

“Noooo. That’s  _ my _ hand. Get your own,” Kuroko whined.

“I already have my own,” Aomine laughed, “It’s keeping yours captive.” He squeezed Kuroko’s hand to prove his point.

“If you have your own, you don’t need mine,” Kuroko argued, trying to tug his hand free again without pulling the blanket down. 

“But I like your hand. I think keeping it sounds more fun.” Aomine slowly reached for the edge of the blanket and slid his hand under it, snaking it around, trying to find another of Kuroko’s limbs to keep hostage without the man noticing. 

“You can’t d--” He broke off into a startled yelp when Aomine grabbed his leg. “My fort has been invaded!”

“And now I have you completely captive!” Aomine gloated. He tried to pull the blanket completely off of Kuroko, despite both his hands being occupied. He managed to inch the blanket off until Kuroko’s head was visible.

“How dare you. You betrayed me. And after I let you help me build this fort.” Kuroko did his best to look affronted. 

“The fort was built with the fate to fall!” Aomine dramaticized, his grin making him sound less believable. 

“It was not! You’re a traitor!” Kuroko accused. 

“I may be a traitor but I still have you captive.” Aomine flashed Kuroko a smug grin, wagging Kuroko’s captive, blanket covered hand to gloat.

“Traitor,” Kuroko mumbled, somehow managing to both glare  _ and _ pout at Aomine. 

“I suppose if I’m a traitor I shouldn’t bring up a little compromise that might let you keep your fort...” Aomine sighed sadly.

Kuroko eyed Aomine at his manipulation but gave in anyway, “ _ What _ compromise?” he asked.

“The kind where you get to keep this fort tonight--sort of,” Aomine bargained, with a sly tilt of his head.

Kuroko’s eyes narrowed even more. “ _ Sort _ of?”

Aomine sighed for real now. “Alright, well obviously we need to be able to access your IVs and see if anything worsens since this  _ is _ a hospital. So you can keep the fort up, but how about you keep out your arm with the IV and make sure your head shows? When nurses come, I’ll tell them to do their check-ups without disturbing your fort and when it’s bedtime, you sleep in a way we can see your torso. That’s the best I can do given the circumstances.” Honestly, it was a  _ big _ compromise and Aomine would have to do some heavy convincing to fulfill such a bargain. But the guy seemed to seriously care about the stupid fort, so it was pretty worth it.

Seeming to understand this, Kuroko smiled and accepted the offer, prompting Aomine to release his hand and leg and finish his check up before exiting the room.

The smile stayed on Kuroko’s face long after Aomine was gone.

* * *

 

Aomine was swamped with other patients and didn’t see Kuroko for the rest of the day, but he was assigned to do a night check on his room.

Just as he finished checking the monitors and replacing the IV fluids, he heard Kuroko shift in the bed (half-buried in his pillow fort as promised).

"Sorry. I'm just making my rounds," Aomine whispered. "Go back to sleep."

In his barely-conscious state, Kuroko turned toward Aomine's voice, peered through tiny slits to confirm it was the same nurse he assumed it was, and mumbled a tiny "Fight me" before falling back asleep.

Aomine could barely contain his laughter until he was out in the hallway.

* * *

 

"You don't normally wake me up," Kuroko complained to the nurse that was deconstructing his second pillow fort and untangling his IV lines.

"I'm sorry, Kuroko-san, but you need to be awake to take your medication and you should really get some nutrients in to help fight off this bug."

At that, Kuroko opened his eyes. "I apologize. I didn't realize it was time for breakfast. I'm normally up before now."

The nurse kept his voice carefully void of emotion. "Kuroko-san, you missed breakfast. Would you like me to heat it up for you?”

Kuroko opened his mouth to agree, but then realized with a little concern he wasn’t actually hungry. “...No, thank you.”

A slight pause. “Kuroko-san, are you hot under those pillows and blankets?”

Kuroko tilted his head, considering. “No. But thank you for asking.”

The nurse appraised the mound of fabrics on the hospital bed. They looked suffocating. Jotting down some notes onto his clipboard and taking Kuroko’s midday vitals, he left the room with a small nod and a reminder for Kuroko to call a staff member when he felt hungry.

When the door closed, Kuroko settled back down into the nest of pillows and drifted back to sleep. He was still a bit tired.

* * *

 

That same day, Aomine visited Kuroko to bring his afternoon medication and found him just stirring awake. “Get enough beauty sleep?” he asked as he approached to check his vitals.

Kuroko blinked slowly several times, until his vision came into focus. “Hmm… I don’t know, did I?” he countered, smiling up at Aomine.

Aomine pretended to study him carefully before answering, “Eh… I think you need a few more years of it to cure that bedhead.” He smirked and ruffled the locks into further disarray.

"There should be a rule against bullying patients," Kuroko commented playfully.

Aomine laughed. “There is. But if you complained about me, you wouldn’t get to see my pretty face anymore,” he said with a grin.

Kuroko mock sighed and lamented, "If only you’d told me sooner.”

“Oi,” Aomine protested, but couldn’t quite wipe the smile off his face. Then he started changing out some of Kuroko’s IV liquids, explaining as he did, “So, we’ve noticed you’ve developed a few new symptoms recently, and we’re going to modify your treatment a bit to fix that.” He handed Kuroko his usual pills, plus one new one, and a glass of water. "It's something to help raise your energy and hopefully bring your appetite back--Speaking of which, are you hungry? You haven’t eaten much today.”

Kuroko didn’t really feel hungry enough to want to eat, but he knew that he should at least try. “A little bit. Could you maybe bring something simple though?” he tried as he downed the pills and water.

“Sure.” Aomine understood that the guy was putting on a brave face, and couldn’t help the bit of concern he felt. It seemed like a pretty nasty cold.

Aomine left to get the food and returned--laden with bread, soup, and juice on a tray--to find Kuroko asleep.

Brows furrowed in concern and mouth set in a small frown, Aomine approached the bed and gently nudged Kuroko awake. When Kuroko’s eyes blinked open sleepily, he whispered, “I brought your food. You should eat some.”

Kuroko squinted his eyes, confused, before finally registering Aomine’s words. He turned his head to eye the tray, but made no move to get up or reach for the food.

“You okay?” Aomine’s frown deepened and he reached for Kuroko’s forehead on instinct. His skin was cool to the touch--no fever. Kuroko leaned into Aomine’s hand and closed his eyes. Aomine almost smiled until he realized that Kuroko was falling back asleep. “Hey, Tetsu, stay with me,” he said quickly, gently shaking one of Kuroko’s shoulders with his free hand.

“Mmm? Tetsu?” Kuroko asked surprised, eyes peeking open in shock.

Aomine froze, panicked. “Er, sorry. It slipped out in the moment.”

Kuroko blinked slowly, considering, then offered a small smile. “I like it. Don't be sorry.”

Overcome by a sudden warmth from Kuroko’s smile, Aomine’s own lips curved up in response. “Think you can eat a bit, Tetsu?” Aomine asked, retracting his hand from Kuroko’s forehead but letting the other linger on his shoulder.

Kuroko’s brows knit together as he studied the tray once more. “... I'm sorry. I'm really not hungry…”

Aomine nodded slowly, marking notes down on his clipboard, then turned to leave but was stopped by a gentle tug on the hand he’d removed from Kuroko’s shoulder. “Tetsu?”

“...Could you stay a bit longer?” Kuroko ventured quietly, “It might help me stay awake…”

Replacing the clipboard in his cart, Aomine mentally reviewed his schedule for the rest of the day and internally winced over the hell he’d pay for delaying his rounds  _ again _ . Then he’d looked at Kuroko… and decided that he hadn't been a stellar employee before. Why start worrying now?

Angling himself back towards the bed, Aomine teased, “It's gonna be pretty hard to fight me when you're so drawn in by my dashing good looks and overwhelming charm.”

“You must be starved for attention if you think you're wooing me,” Kuroko shot back, a hint of amusement in his eyes the only clue that he was joking.

Gasping in mock injury, Aomine took one of Kuroko’s hands in both of his and winked. “You ain't seen nothing yet.”

Kuroko’s laugh was like a balm to the tension in Aomine’s gut.

* * *

 

The dictionary didn’t have the word to describe the kind of tired Aomine was. The times he’d popped into Kuroko’s room had been increasingly worrying. The last few times, Kuroko had slept so soundly, Aomine had taken his vitals without so much as an eyelash flutter or finger twitch of acknowledgement.

Aomine had just decided that another dose of caffeine probably wouldn’t kill him when the hospital exploded into movement.

A doctor poked his head into the break room, spotted Aomine, barked out, “Code Blue. Room 511.” and was gone.

Suddenly glad he wasn’t holding a cup of coffee, Aomine dashed out of the room, nearly colliding with another nurse. Code Blue. Cardiac arrest.

Room 511.  _ Tetsu’s room _ .

Aomine’s head swam as he glimpsed pale skin and blue hair through the crowd of bodies and fluttering white coats surrounding Kuroko’s bed.

Though he’d long since mastered tamping down the panic and nerves of witnessing emergency care for patients, he hadn’t expected this particular patient.  _ This wing is for  _ moderate _ conditions!  _ They held the patients with head injuries or slightly worse than average coughs, the occasional flu. There weren’t usually people  _ dying _ from the goddamn flu!

Suddenly Aomine’s check-ins on Kuroko swam by--his increasing fatigue, lack of appetite, difficulty concentrating.

He was distantly aware of his body handing the appropriate instruments to the correct doctors, of noting the charge on the defibrillators-- _ dear god, the  _ defibrillators. Kuroko’s body jerked with the first jolt, then the second. But no heartbeat.

_ C’mon,  _ fight _ Tetsu! _

The paddles pressed down once more and the smallest blip echoed through the room. A flicker of hope that steadied into a rhythm of blips more beautiful than any song Aomine had ever heard.

Kuroko’s eyes opened slowly as though moving through mud and it seemed as though eons passed before they lighted on Aomine’s. 

Though Aomine couldn’t see his lips move, he saw the smile in Kuroko’s eyes and latched onto one of his fragile hands like a lifeline.

Aomine mouthed “fight me” slowly and felt a small squeeze in response.

Suppressing a laugh of relief, he smiled--

_ Nononono! _

His lips dropped like Kuroko’s hand, now limp in his grip.

That damn veil lowered again as the doctors whipped back into emergency mode.

The paddles lowered to Kuroko’s chest again and Aomine glued his eyes to the monitor, searching for the smallest heart beat.  _ C’mon. C’MON. _

Once. Pause. Twice. Pause.

One more. Pause.

Nothing.

Aomine searched Kuroko’s face for an eye twitch, listening for a groan or a cough, but the doctor was already calling time of death and the defibrillators were packed away.

As the others backed out of the room and returned to their rounds or the next patient, Aomine moved next to Kuroko’s head and leaned down to whisper his goodbyes.

“You win.”

He’d been too busy fighting himself.


End file.
